I think there is a subconscious bias against African-Americans in some parts of the country, usually areas where people of other races were raised to be afraid of men of their color (it always seems to be the men, not the African-American women, who are subject to this kind of treatment). Having grown up in the south, I have seen it, and was even told as a kid that you don't let black people in your house, and that they are to be viewed as suspicious if they are in your neighborhood. I HOPE I've overcome that....I've definitely tried to. After living in the northeast for several years, and then coming back to the south, I DO see black males being treated differently than other people. It is happening. It is a thing, and we need to work to overcome it.

As a white woman, I've been to plenty of Starbucks and other restaurants and fast food places and arrived first to wait for friends. Plenty of times, I've ordered nothing, or only a free glass of water, while I waited, and all I had to do was say I was waiting for people before ordering, and it was all cool. And, I can't even count the number of times I've used a restaurant bathroom while on road trips....almost always without ordering. I just go in, use it, and leave. No one EVER says anything.

So, when I see something like this happening with black men doing the same thing I and my friends do all the time with no issue, I can't help but think the manager who called the police had some inherent, and maybe unknown, bias against black men.

These guys were right....they weren't doing ANYTHING wrong.

And, on a side note, what about all of the protests against the Vietnam war in the 60's and 70's? Do you think that was manufactured outrage, too? I don't. I think those protesters were exercising a Constitutional right, and they had a very valid point in what they were protesting.